Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, released the following statement on the inclusion of the Compacts of Free Association (COFA) in the federal appropriations package announced earlier today: “The Compacts of Free Association are...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono, member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, joined 25 of her Senate colleagues in a bipartisan letter urging Senate leadership to support legislation to renew the Compacts of Free Association (COFA) with the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands,...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and 12 colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Robin Carnahan regarding GSA’s implementation of President Biden’s 2021 Executive Order on...

WASHINGTON, DC – Following a concerning Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) report finding significant shortfalls in care provided by VA to veterans who seek care after experiencing a sexual assault, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, joined Senator Jon Tester (D-MT)...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) released the following statement after the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted to advance Julie Su’s nomination to serve as U.S. Secretary of Labor: “Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su has dedicated her life to fighting for working people and families across...

~ A link to download photos of the roundtable is available here ~ HONOLULU, HI – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai held a roundtable discussion with Hawaii resource partners and local business owners. The business owners...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and Brian Schatz (D-HI), and U.S. Representatives Jill Tokuda (D-HI) and Ed Case (D-HI), introduced a resolution celebrating Mahina Olelo Hawaii, also known as Hawaiian Language Month. “Indigenous languages are critical to the perpetuation of any culture,” said Senator Hirono. “However, decades...

~ The bipartisan bill is now cosponsored by a total of 62 U.S. Senators, with new changes to strengthen the broadly supported legislation announced ~ WASHINGTON, DC – Following the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis,” U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Judiciary...

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined her colleagues in welcoming a new National Security Memorandum (NSM) released by the Biden Administration Thursday aimed at ensuring all U.S. security assistance is used in line with international law, including international humanitarian law. The NSM is modeled off of the Senators’ amendment...

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined 17 of her Senate colleagues in a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to act swiftly to finally close the detention facility at U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.  In the letter, led by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Senators wrote that as a...

WASHINGTON, DC – In response to a letter from U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) and U.S. Representatives Jill Tokuda (D-HI) and Ed Case (D-HI), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it is granting the Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE) with the flexibility to provide K-12 students with free school...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) led 27 of their Senate colleagues in sending a bipartisan letter to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson (R-LA), encouraging him to invite Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to address a Joint Session of Congress during his Official Visit to...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and eight colleagues in introducing the Future Advancement of Academic Nursing (FAAN) Act. This bicameral legislation would support a grant program to increase the number of faculty and students at nursing schools, which is critical to addressing nursing...

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) applauded the unanimous Senate passage of a bipartisan resolution recognizing February 2024 as Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month. The resolution—led by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Todd Young (R-IN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Ted Budd (R-NC)—also recognizes the importance of career and...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, delivered remarks on the Senate floor calling for the text of the recently-renegotiated Compacts of Free Association (COFA) to be added to the national security supplemental bill...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) released the following statement marking six months since devastating wildfires tore through Lahaina and Upcountry Maui: “Six months after fires tore through Lahaina and Upcountry Maui, we continue to see the heart and resilience of our communities as we recover and remember the lives lost...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) announced that the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) is awarding over $4 million in funding to various programs and initiatives across Hawaii to prevent the imminent extinction of Hawaiian forest birds. The funding is made possible through the DOI’s Hawaiian Forest Bird Keystone Initiative, a...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement after voting yes on a procedural vote on the Senate’s national security supplemental funding bill. The measure, which needed 60 votes to advance, failed by a vote of 50-49. “The fate of our allies should...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined 19 of her Senate colleagues in filing an amendment to require that the weapons received by any country under the proposed national security supplemental are used in accordance with U.S. law, international humanitarian law, and the law of armed conflict. “This amendment will help to...

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), U.S. Representative Norma Torres (D-CA), and 18 colleagues in introducing bicameral legislation to improve voter registration efforts at naturalization ceremonies. The Including New Voters In The Electorate (INVITE) Act would designate United States Citizenship...